TY - JOUR
T1 - Lead contamination in Chinese surface soils
T2 - Source identification, spatial-temporal distribution and associated health risks
AU - Zhang, Yunhui
AU - Hou, Deyi
AU - O’Connor, David
AU - Shen, Zhengtao
AU - Shi, Peili
AU - Ok, Yong Sik
AU - Tsang, Daniel C.W.
AU - Wen, Yang
AU - Luo, Mina
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to China Scholarship Council (CSC) for the financial help of the Ph.D. studentship for the first author and to the Killam Trusts of Canada for providing the Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Postdoctoral Fellowship to the fourth author. This work was also supported by China’s National Water Pollution Control and Treatment Science and Technology Major Project (Grant No. 2018ZX07109-003), the Thousand Talents Program of the Chinese government and Tsinghua University.
Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to China Scholarship Council (CSC) for the financial help of the Ph.D. studentship for the first author and to the Killam Trusts of Canada for providing the Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Postdoctoral Fellowship to the fourth author. This work was also supported by China?s National Water Pollution Control and Treatment Science and Technology Major Project (Grant No. 2018ZX07109-003), the Thousand Talents Program of the Chinese government and Tsinghua University.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, © 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2019/8/3
Y1 - 2019/8/3
N2 - Soil lead (Pb) pollution is wide spread in China. The Chinese government is taking ambitious actions to tackle the soil pollution issue, with the latest soil quality standards and the Soil Pollution Prevention and Remediation Law enacted in 2018. This study assesses the spatio-temporal distribution, pollution levels, major sources and health risks of Pb in surface soils in China in the past three decades (1990–2017). Traffic emissions (mainly leaded gasoline), mining, smelting, and e-waste recycling were main contributors to soil Pb pollution and pose a risk to food security and human health. The weighted arithmetic mean of Pb concentrations was 35.9 ± 0.21 mg/kg. Southern China suffered from severer soil Pb pollution with hotspots of the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta, Shaanxi and Hunan. The average soil Pb concentration increased marginally during 1990–2001 due to increased industrial and transportation activities; afterwards, it decreased by ∼30% during 2001–2013, reflecting the effectiveness of the ban on leaded gasoline in 2000. However, there was a slight increase in recent years. Therefore, it is critical to establish a comprehensive evaluation and monitoring system, strengthen pollution source control, properly manage the environmental and health risks at severely contaminated sites, and conduct green and sustainable remediation.
AB - Soil lead (Pb) pollution is wide spread in China. The Chinese government is taking ambitious actions to tackle the soil pollution issue, with the latest soil quality standards and the Soil Pollution Prevention and Remediation Law enacted in 2018. This study assesses the spatio-temporal distribution, pollution levels, major sources and health risks of Pb in surface soils in China in the past three decades (1990–2017). Traffic emissions (mainly leaded gasoline), mining, smelting, and e-waste recycling were main contributors to soil Pb pollution and pose a risk to food security and human health. The weighted arithmetic mean of Pb concentrations was 35.9 ± 0.21 mg/kg. Southern China suffered from severer soil Pb pollution with hotspots of the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta, Shaanxi and Hunan. The average soil Pb concentration increased marginally during 1990–2001 due to increased industrial and transportation activities; afterwards, it decreased by ∼30% during 2001–2013, reflecting the effectiveness of the ban on leaded gasoline in 2000. However, there was a slight increase in recent years. Therefore, it is critical to establish a comprehensive evaluation and monitoring system, strengthen pollution source control, properly manage the environmental and health risks at severely contaminated sites, and conduct green and sustainable remediation.
KW - Pb
KW - Soil pollution
KW - potentially toxic elements
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85060864217&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/10643389.2019.1571354
DO - 10.1080/10643389.2019.1571354
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85060864217
VL - 49
SP - 1386
EP - 1423
JO - Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology
JF - Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology
SN - 1064-3389
IS - 15
ER -
